NYC Wants More Shots for Residents; EU Passport: Virus Update

(Bloomberg) --

Johnson & Johnson is looking for manufacturing partnerships to increase supply of its Covid-19 vaccine, which was cleared Saturday by U.S. regulators.

The European Commission is set to unveil a proposal this month for a digital vaccine passort, which could ease a return to normality for those who are immunized. But it has critics who say it may be discriminatory and infringe on privacy.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson moved to reassure the public over the emergence of a Brazilian variant. Italy will tighten curbs in some cities, Oslo will close restaurants and shops, and Finland has triggered a state of emergency. France needs another four to six weeks before the government can start lifting curbs, President Emmanuel Macron signaled.

Key Developments:

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J&J Looks for Partners to Boost Supply (11:15 a.m. NY)

Johnson & Johnson is looking for manufacturing partnerships to increase supply of its Covid-19 vaccine that was cleared Saturday by U.S. regulators, Chief Executive Officer Alex Gorsky said.

J&J will deliver 3.9 million doses of its one-shot vaccine within the next 24 to 48 hours, Gorsky said Monday in a telephone interview. The company wants to speed up its timeline of supplying enough vaccines to immunize 20 million Americans by the end of the month and a total of 100 million by the end of June, he said.

“We are doing everything we can partnering with the U.S. government and other external manufacturers to see what we can do to accelerate and increase that number as well,” Gorsky said.

NYC Mayor Wants More Shots for Residents (11 a.m. NY)

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said many of the shots at large, state-run vaccination sites in the city aren’t going to local residents. He said 43% of shots at the massive vaccine site at the Javits Center convention site have gone to non-city residents. Three quarters of shots at the Aqueduct Race Track in Queens, which is near one of the hardest-hit parts of the city, have gone to people who don’t live in the city, he said.

Poland May Buy Chinese Vaccines (10:30 a.m. NY)

The Polish government will discuss the potential purchase of Covid-19 vaccines with its Chinese counterparts, according to a readout from a Monday phone call between Presidents Andrzej Duda and Xi Jinping. Details of possible supplies will be figured out by special working group.

Poland has already administered 8.39 doses of Covid-19 vaccine per 100 people, one of highest ratio in the EU, according to Bloomberg tracker.

EU Vaccine Passports Draws Closer (10:05 a.m. NY)

The European Commission will unveil a proposal this month for a “digital green pass,” which will provide proof that a person has been vaccinated, recovered from Covid-19 or has received a negative test.

“The proposal’s aim will be to facilitate travel within the European Union based on this medical data that will be available in this green digital pass,” Commission spokesman Eric Mamer told reporters in Brussels on Monday.

But countries including France have raised objections on the grounds that the policy may be discriminatory against those not vaccinated and infringe on personal data.

France’s Curbs Set to be Extended (7:30 a.m. NY)

France needs another four to six weeks before the government can start lifting restrictions, Agence France-Presse reported on Monday, citing comments made by President Emmanuel Macron. The country is already implementing a nationwide curfew that runs from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., but officials have warned that more curbs might be needed.

Finland’s State of Emergency (7:15 a.m NY)

Finland declared a state of emergency, allowing the government to shutter bars and stop dining at restaurants for three weeks from March 8. It’s preparing an aid package to the affected businesses.

In addition, the government may use emergency powers to restrict people’s movements at a later point, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said.

Iran’s New Cases Hit Three-Month High (7:00 a.m. NY)

Iran recorded 108 deaths from coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the highest since Jan. 4 and the first time in seven weeks that the country surpassed 100 Covid-19 deaths in one day. The number of daily new cases rose by 8,510, the highest since December 11, the Health Ministry reported. Iran now has 60,181 deaths from the virus with more than 1.6 million infections.

U.K. Seeks Person Infected With Variant (6:12 p.m. HK)

The U.K is trying to trace a person infected with a Brazilian variant of the coronavirus. Six cases of the mutation, which originated in the Amazonian city of Manaus, have been detected in the U.K.

While five have been found, the identity of the final patient is still unknown because they failed to complete a test registration card, leaving health officials without the information needed to find them.

Separately, over 20 million people in the U.K. have now been vaccinated, Britain’s health minister, Matt Hancock said.

Skeptical Russians (5:50 p.m. HK)

Russians are less willing to take the locally developed Sputnik V vaccine, highlighting problems with the inoculation’s rollout despite evidence that it is safe and effective. Some 62% of Russians said they wouldn’t take the injections, the most since the question was introduced in August, according to a February poll by the independent Levada Center.

Montenegro Tightens Lockdown (5:45 p.m. HK)

Montenegro, which has one of the highest infection rates in Europe, tightened curbs in the capital Podgorica and five other cities to stem the latest surge in infections. The tightening takes effect today and lasts for 10 days. Among the measures include limits on travel.

Ireland Fear St. Patrick’s Day Trouble (5:30 p.m. HK)

Police are concerned the violence which broke out over the weekend may be repeated on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, should anti-lockdown protesters return to the streets, the Irish Independent reported. Rioters attacked police on Grafton Street, one of Dublin’s main thoroughfares, after hundreds of protesters were blocked from reaching a rallying point.

Hong Kong to Start Pfizer-BioNTech Shots (2:46 p.m. H.K.)

Bookings for Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination in Hong Kong between March 10 and 30 will begin on Wednesday, with over 140,000 slots available for priority groups, Secretary for Civil Service Patrick Nip says at a briefing.

More than 135,000 people have made online bookings for Sinovac vaccination, filling up 50% of slots available until March 28. The Sinovac vaccines will be available at private clinics starting Tuesday.

German Incidence Rate at Three-Week High (2:12 p.m. H.K.)

Germany’s seven-day incidence rate inched up to 65.8 per 100,000 people, the highest in almost three weeks, as the nation allows hairdressers to reopen from Monday under strict hygiene rules.

Chancellor Angela Merkel faces further pressure to lay out a path to ease Germany’s coronavirus lockdown after Finance Minister Olaf Scholzbecame the latest senior official to call for a quicker reopening of Europe’s largest economy. Merkel and state premiers are due to hold talks Wednesday on a possible further easing of lockdown restrictions.

With the country’s inoculation campaign slowly ramping up, the vaccination committee is poised to reconsider its decision not to recommend AstraZeneca’s vaccine for people age 65 and older. Separately, Helge Braun, Merkel’s chief of staff, said the government wants to ramp up testing to help prevent the risk of another wave as curbs are lifted.

Study on China Virus Deaths (10:01 a.m. H.K.)

A study published in the British Medical Journal in February showed that deaths in the first three months of 2020 in the central Chinese city of Wuhan was 56% higher than expected, driven mostly by fatalities from pneumonia associated with Covid-19.

A total of 4,573 deaths were caused by pneumonia in this period, researchers from Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Oxford found by combing through the local death registry. The number is largely in line with the 4,636 deaths from Covid-19 that China’s National Health Commission has reported since the beginning of the pandemic, a number that was revised up 40% by officials last April.

A separate study on the real magnitude of coronavirus infections in China, conducted in April shortly after China contained the outbreak in Wuhan, found that people with past signs of infection was ten times more than the official data on cases in the city.

India PM Takes First Dose of Vaccine (9:55 a.m. H.K.)

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet Monday that he took his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and urged all Indians eligible for the shot to get inoculated. Modi took Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

The Asian nation, with the world’s second-largest outbreak, has approved one vaccine from Astrazeneca and another from homegrown Bharat Biotech. Hesitation over Bharat Biotech’s shot has been especially strong as the vaccine was approved in January for use before final stage testing was completed, and the company has not disclosed full safety and efficacy data.

Modi is seeking to bolster one of the world’s largest inoculation programs that aims to vaccinate about a quarter of India’s population by August. Only 14.3 million people have been vaccinated so far, according to data from India’s health ministry.

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